1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to decorative hair accessories for securing a person""s hair in place with different decorative effects and, more particularly, to headbands, barrettes, and hair combs, with attachable and interchangeable decorations or ornaments, providing a decorative fashion accessory for the hair.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite the fact that the basic design of headbands, barrettes, and hair combs has remained unchanged, the ongoing demands of constantly changing fashion trends require a costly accumulation of hair controlling devices basically identical in structure, but different solely in the decorations or ornaments adorning the devices. The prior art reflects the desire to adapt to fashion trends, while minimizing the number of hair controlling devices by means of hair controlling devices with interchangeable decorations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,611 B1, issued to LeCrone et al. in 2001, discloses a banded clothing device with pockets to receive ornaments. Such ornamentation may be in the form of clips, barrettes, hair pins or bobby pins having ornamentation such as bows, ribbons, flowers and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,123, issued to Odenthal in 1995, discloses a headband kit with removable panels, interchangeably attachable to the display surface by means of a friction fit within mounting holes.
Another interchangeable barrette assembly with ornamental components is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,158, issued to Lloyd et al. in 2000, which discloses an interchangeable barrette assembly, comprising an ornamental component with posts that snap into the body of the removable clasp assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,903 B1, issued to Haufler in 2001, describes a hair band consisting of a wearable body and a cord adapted to be woven through at least a portion of the body, the cord securing the ornaments to the body.
Hook-and-loop fastening systems (Velcro(copyright)) are in widespread use on numerous consumer products, including fashion accessories. U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,836, issued to McKeown in 1998, discloses al variety of hair ornamental and hair control devices utilizing a Velcro(copyright) system of hook-and-loop fasteners to comfortably and securely attach the ornament to the head. However McKeown utilizes hook-and-loop fasteners to secure the hair controlling device to the hair rather than to the hair controlling device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,585, issued to Reinstein et al. in October 2000, discloses a hair ornament attachment system having decorative ornaments with hook fastening material on its reverser side for directly affixing the ornament to the hair and not the surface of a hair controlling device. Additionally, Reinstein et al. disclose a display unit consisting of loop fastening material for storing the ornaments when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,371, issued in July 2000, to Bader-Saltzman et al., discloses a novel hair clip utilizing hook-and-loop fastening for attaching hair decorations to the barrel of the hair clip. Additionally, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0066462 A1, published in June 2002, applied for by Denebeim, discloses a headband consisting of a strip of hook type fastening material on one side and loop type fastening material on its reverse side, said strip capable of attaching its ends to itself around ones head, and capable of having attached to it, a variety of ornaments and or hair attachments.
Hair related inventions utilizing hook-and-loop fastening material have been cited in foreign patents. For example, United Kingdom Pat. No. GB2301031A, issued to Graham and published in 1996, discloses a hairpiece comprising a headband and an hairpiece held to each other by hook-and-loop fastenings. Various interchangeable headbands are disclosed along with auxiliary combs or clips to aid fastening the hairpiece to the user""s own hair. Although a hairpiece may be considered a decoration, the purpose of Graham""s invention was not to provide interchangeable ornaments, but to provide an interchangeable means of best attaching a hairpiece to the user""s head.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a hair ornament kit with interchangeable decorations and a storage board solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The invention relates to a decorative hair accessory kit. The kit includes a headband, a hair comb, a barrette, a plurality of interchangeable ornaments that are removable fixable to the hair controlling devices, and a panel for storing the components of the kit when not in use. The hair band is generally a resilient base in the shape of an open loop configured to the top of the head and straddling the head, and each end of the loop presses against the sides of the head.
The barrette is generally a elongated flat surface with a clip affixed to the underside of the flat surface for holding an amount of hair in a specific position on a wearer""s head. The hair comb generally has teeth extending from a spine to secure the hair in a desired position.
All three of the hair controlling devices have an outer surface to which the decorative ornaments are removable attached by of hook-and-loop fastening material. The ornaments have an decorative surface and a back surface to which the hook portion of a hook-and-loop fastener is adhered, thus allowing the ornament to be fastened to the hair controlling device and easily interchanged with other ornaments to provide different fashion appearances.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide hair controlling devices with easily interchangeable and attachable ornaments.
It is another object of the invention to provide for storing the hair controlling devices and ornaments when not in use.
Furthermore, is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.